Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Quick!

My uro is very sick. She has intermittent paralysis of the limbs, and shakes every now and then. She has difficultly walking or controlling her limbs and tail. It is clearly a neurotoxin of some kind. Upon investigation, I found a small piece of a petal of a flower laying in the enclosure. Long story short, it's part of an Azalea bush and it appears it got mixed in with some dandelions that I picked yesterday for them. Azaleas are extremely toxic, but if she's not dead already, it looks somewhat encouraging. I'll get her to the vet tomorrow morning, they're closed. What can I do until then? I gave her a soak, but she wont eat. I think I may to force her to eat something to metabolize this toxin. I won't do any such thing right now..

please help,
Mark
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Mark Martinez
University of Florida

I found this on a website about Azalea poisoning:

if you need help quickly
The Animal Poison Control Centre
at the University of Illinois
has a toll-free number:

1-888-426-4435

Hope this helps
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Ra

n/p
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Ra

Just saw this and was wondering how he is ! Sure hope he made out okay! Let us know
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Eve

She seems to be getting slightly worse. Hopefully she'll be ok to make it to the vet in the morning.
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Mark Martinez
University of Florida

Dead frog,
I had an almost identical experience with one of my beardies last year. Same symptons as you have described, although she actually was reguritating, and expelling feces.
My wife and I took turns staying up with her, and provided warm baths to try to aid her in purging the toxins from her system. I am not sure if a Uro will react in the same manner, but the long and short of it, it was a rough 72 hours and she pulled thru and has no side effects that we have observed. I hope she pulls thru for you, it all depends on how much of the toxin she ingested. Good luck getting her to the vet, and please post on her condition as your time permits.

Best regards,

Carson

It seems like your experience is playing out for me. Its been about 55 hours since she ingested the poison, and she's doing much better. I've been giving her baths, monitoring the situation, and encouraging her to walk. She no longer convulses or experiences paralysis, but she still has trouble walking. It's as if she were very drunk. She only walks in circles. Much to my dismay, the irregular breathing on the first day may have caused her to take in some water, and I think she may have a little congestion. I can hear it in the breathing. She still hasn't eaten, but that's understandable to say the least.

I couldn't take her to the vet at all... Long story.
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Mark Martinez
University of Florida

Good to hear she's doing better, I hope she continues to improve.